Winter Was Here
Three of our four donkeys (Bucky, Tobiah, Jake) by the oaks.
Winter is nearly over here in the valley. With spring right around the corner, I thought I should pull together some winter pictures before the early flowers start blooming.
Donkeys don’t care about weather too much. They have access to their shelter all day, but often prefer to stand out under the oaks no matter if it is raining, snowing, or blazing sunshine. They can see me from the porch and often start braying when they catch sight of me with the camera. Jake especially loves the extra attention.
Chickens hanging out on the porch away from the snow.
Here we have some chickens who were hiding from the weather on our porch. It can be a little startling for visitors who come knocking to have half a dozen chickens flight out from under the grill in raucous cackling. Yes, chickens cackle.
I even caught our dog Hannibal playing in the snow. Even though she has short hair, she enjoys zipping around in the dogyard, skidding in the snow. After a while, she’ll come in and sit by the fire to warm up.
Hannibal playing in the snow in the dogyard.
Round Table Farm 
Wow I didn’t know that donkeys were so hardcore! Hannibal’s a real beauty with her triangular ears and white tipped tail. Gorgeous.
She was a shelter dog and had to have stitches in her ears due to scratching the hell out of them because of an ear mite infestation. Otherwise, her ears would be bigger.
Aww poor Hannibal! Still, they look good on her. Shelter dogs are the best – mine’s one too. Never thought I’d find my best friend behind bars 🙂
Hahaha! All my farm animals came from shelters, the wild, or were born here, or were donated by others looking to rehome the animal. They all know they have it lucky here.
That’s great, they are lucky! I have a stupid chicken question (stupid as in you’ll know I am completely ignorant of chickens). I used to live in Key West that has chickens everywhere. The roosters crow all the time. My theory is that crowing is a signal to get ready for some romance. Maybe they do it normally at the crack of dawn and these roosters are trying to fool the chickens into putting out. Could it be? 🙂
Roosters are particularly stupid. They crow for any reason (love, another rooster, alarm call) and for no reason at all (like 2 AM). Ignore the rooster unless you hear the alarm call – which means a stray dog, racoons, or hawk.
Darn. I liked my version of the events better than the reality 😦